Part 185: Exodus Part 3

Eddie held onto his kangaroo toy as he watched the grown ups continue to finish the raft. He remembered to stay within sight of Shanna who watched over him till McKay would be able. Mr. Sawyer had brought in a new mast and it made Micheal and Jin smile brightly. Eddie felt good seeing the adults get along together. Then he felt a gentle hand touch his shoulder and a wet tongue lick his elbow. He turned to be faced with Walt and Vincent. “Hey, man,” Eddie smiled, petting the dog.

“Eddie, I need a big favor from you,” Walt said.

“What’s that, man?” he asked.

“It won’t be safe for Vincent on the boat. I need you to take him. I know he’ll be safe with you.”

“That’s great, man . .but . ..I don’t think I should take him.”

“Oh, C’mon, Eddie!” the black boy said, disgusted, “I thought we were over all that.”

“We are, we are,” the little boy reassured him,” But what I meant to say was, I don’t think I should take him cause I don’t need him.”

“Need him?” Walt asked confused.

“Yeah, but someone else does.” He pointed behind him.

Walt turned and saw the lonely figure of Shannon. She was packing up her clothes into large suitcases. The black boy looked back to his little companion and motioned for him to follow. The two boys and the dog walked to the tall blonde. Walt was a little confused, wondering why she was bothering to make her clothes so neat when they haven’t been washed in weeks. “Why are you folding clothes?” she asked.

“Because I'm anal.” She scoffed, looking at them, “Is there something you two want?”

“Walt has something he needs to do tell you.” Eddie patted him on the shoulder.

“Like what?”

“I think you should take Vincent,” the black boy rubbed his head.

“Are . .are you serious?” the tall blonde blinked.

“He'll take care of you.”

“What's makes you think I need a dog to take care of me?” the girl shrugged.

“Vincent took care of me when my mom died, and nobody would talk to me. They pretended like nothing happened. So I had to talk to Vincent. He's a good listener.”

“Maybe . . .maybe you could talk to Vincent about Boone?” Eddie said, shrugging his shoulders.

Shannon nearly broke down in tears. Mandy had been kind to her but the biggest act of kindness was coming from two boys under the age of ten. She kneeled down and gently pet the Lab on the head. “Okay,” she smiled, “but only until you get us rescued, okay?”

“Okay,” Walt smiled.

---------------------------------------------,

Sayid brought over the majority of the equipment to Micheal. The black man then immediately helped him load it on the plane. Seth grabbed two trashbags full of fruit and placed them onto the raft. When the saw the equipment, he knew it had arrived; the moment that Mia told him about earlier in the day. He didn’t even ask why she knew Sayid had one; he stopped questioning her strange perception. The Iraqi held up the screen radar dish. “I salvaged a few things for you from the Beechcraft.” He told him,” This is the plane's radar emitter. It needs to be mounted on the mast or the top of the cabin.”

“I’ll do it,” Sawyer said, holding out his hands.

Sayid quickly gave it to him and the southern man amounted the cabin, placing it at the top of the mast. The Middle Easterner then showed the black man the control panel. “Michael, to conserve power, turn it on only once every hour or so. It will show you any ships within the horizon line, approximately 25 miles . . .the same with the radio transmitter.”

Sayid then handed him a flare gun. “It was in the ships toolbox,” he said, “There's only one flare. Choose wisely when you use it.”

Micheal shook his head and turned around. He quickly mounted the boat and went to place the gear into a controlled area. Then Seth immediately grabbed him. “Hey, man, what’s up?” the black man asked.

“Do us all a favor, man,” he pointed toward the flare gun, “do not fire that thing till you are absolutely sure that you see a boat.”

“I will, man, don’t worry.”

“No, Micheal, I AM SERIOUS. It will be bad if you don’t.”

“Seth, calm down, I understand, man. I promise, okay,”

“Seth, what is going on?” asked Yolanda.

The young man then took his black female friend to the side and looked her into the eyes. “Make sure that flare gun is used when absolutely necessary, not sooner.” He warned.

“I’m sure Micheal knows what to do.”

“No, Yolanda, Mia SAID that he shouldn’t use it any sooner than he’s supposed to.”

“Mia . . .SAID THAT?” she gasped.

“Yes,” Seth shook his head, wild eyed.

Yolanda was familiar with the Lakota girl’s strange perception. If Mia said Micheal shouldn’t fire the flare till it was absolutely time, then it’s for a good reason. The black woman patted him on the arms. “I’ll make sure of it.” She promised him.

Everybody then got ready. Shannon gave Charlie a message to place in the bottle. He in turned gave it to Sawyer. The southern man said nothing; just replied with a simple handshake. Jin and Sun were speaking in Korean and after a few tearful replies, they immediately started kissing. Shanna was happy to see they reconciled before he left.

Then the rest of the men and women got ready. They grabbed the levers and on Micheal’s signal, began to lift the raft. A few more feet and they were in the water. Martin strained his muscles with Seth by his side. Even Jenny was able to help. Then the bamboo caught the water and it began to sail.

Sawyer immediately jumped up and pulled the sail down. The wind caught the massive cloth and started to push forward. The crowd on the beach then started jumping up and laughing. Martin and Kristy laughed as they jumped up with Jenny. Mandy and Taylor laughed as well. McKay jumped up and down, waving his fist. “GO! GO! GO!” he screamed in delight.

Sawyer turned around and saluted him. The Australian stopped jumping and saluted his sparring partner. He smiled, placing his hands on his hips. “Keep’em safe, redneck.” He whispered.

“BYE, EDDIE!!!” Walt screamed.

The little boy waved goodbye to his young friend, leaping on the beach. “BYE, VINCENT!!” the black boy replied to his dog.

Then the dog abruptly yanked itself from Shannon’s grip. Vincent dove into the water and began to swim toward Walt in the raft. “Stay, Vincent!” Walt screamed.

“VINCENT, COME BACK!!” Eddie called.

The dog wasn’t listening. It struggled into the waves, as it continued to dog-paddle out to the only master he had ever known. “GO BACK!!” Walt said,” VINCENT, GO BACK!! PLEASE GO BACK!!”

Then the big dog abruptly turned around and began to swim back. Walt exhaled with relief that his dog finally listened to him. Eddie waded out into the water and took his leash the moment he was close enough. He quickly handed it back to Shannon.

The boat continued to sail into the distance. Yolanda pushed her hair aside from her eyes as she watched the island began to get smaller into the distance. Jin and Sawyer shook hands on a job well done. Micheal immediately embraced his boy. “What’d I say?” he laughed.

“WE DID IT!!!” Walt cheered.